


Mercy

by littlehutbeach



Series: Infernal Affairs [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Broken Parabatai Bond, Edom Angst (Shadowhunter Chronicles), F/M, Good Parabatai Jace Wayland, Guilt, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, The Clave (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Waywood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27223897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlehutbeach/pseuds/littlehutbeach
Summary: HM500: VowThe law is hard but the Clave is capable of mercy.
Relationships: Maryse Lightwood/Robert Lightwood, Robert Lightwood & Jace Wayland, Robert Lightwood/Michael Wayland
Series: Infernal Affairs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987546
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11
Collections: Hunter's Moon 500 Prompts





	Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> If haven't read my other short fic Heirs, you might want to take a look at it. Some things might make more sense then. But it's not necessary. This one can be read as a stand-alone fic.

Robert rarely allowed himself the chance to indulge in tentatively reaching out to Michael through the bond. Just to check on him and make sure he was okay. On quiet nights when Maryse was with the kids, he pictured a red string tethering part of his soul to Michael’s and he lightly tapped it. One day, there was no responding tap. And the tether was barely there to be grasped. He panicked. 

_ tap tap tap _

Nothing.

When the Clave handed down his punishments after the uprising, Robert was devastated with the prospect of severing the last bit of Michael he had left. Forever this time. And the pain never left. It had been easier before when it was his choice to stay away even as he had slowly felt the bond weakening and dissolving. 

When the sentencing came down, Robert expected to be executed. Or worse, de-runed. He was angry and disappointed at both Maryse and himself for blindly following the Circle once Valentine’s crimes came to light. His only hope had been that his children would be spared. Alec and Izzy were just toddlers. They were innocent and didn’t deserve to pay for their parents’ tragic mistakes. 

For once, the Clave showed mercy. Or so it seemed. They were exiled from Idris and appointed to lead the New York Institute, one of the areas most affected by Valentine’s madness. Still, that wasn’t enough. The Clave had one last stipulation. 

He’d faced demons with the odds stacked against him, been beaten and stabbed, and tortured for information by the Clave after the Circle’s downfall. Nothing prepared him for the agony that shot through his very soul the moment his Parabatai rune was cut into. Robert could only describe it as something tearing him apart from the inside. 

That part of Michael’s soul that had belonged to Robert since the very second they recited those vows to each other at the academy was violently separated from a place where it had always belonged. The red thread he’d pictured wasn’t just cut. It was slashed, stomped on, and yanked out. Suddenly Robert was left with a gaping wound that would never fully heal. He was incomplete and it was invisible to anyone but him. 

_ Are you okay? _ There was no responding _ tap tap tap _ and never would be.

He wanted to reach out to Michael and apologize. But it was too late. 

“If anything happens to my parabatai…” With tears in his eyes, Jace took a deep shuddering breath and slowly let it out. “ Please help me. He’s your son, you can’t let the Clave carry out execution orders. I can’t lose him” 

_ tap tap tap _

Robert grabbed Jace by the shoulders to stop his shaking. “There’s nothing to stop,” he said softly, fighting back his own emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. “He went to Edom, Jace. He’s gone.”

“He’s not gone!” Jace screamed, lifting up his shirt to show his own fading rune. “Magnus wants us to believe he is.”


End file.
